Sample Response – Elementary
Question A
I heard another parent say that the test they took has different questions from my daughter’s. It sounds like theirs was easier. I don’t think that’s fair, and I’d like for my daughter to take the other test.
- You’re right. Some students took Form A of this test and others took Form B. I give different versions of the test to prevent students from sharing answers. But neither test is harder than the other. Before I used these tests, I tried them out with other students who took both tests and got almost the same score on both. This means the tests are equally hard.
Question B
I don’t think the score that my daughter got on this test is accurate. Could you please re-score it?
- I appreciate your concern. Having accurate ratings is very important to me. Last summer I attended a two-day training session where I learned how to use a rubric to rate students’ response on this test. I practiced with other teachers until we were able to arrive at the same score independently. To make sure I am consistent, I still refer back to the anchor papers when I am uncertain. Here is a copy of the rubric and the anchor papers with the same rating as your daughter’s. Take a look at them. If you still feel your daughter’s score is inaccurate, I will rescore and compare it to the score results.
Question C
My daughter was having a bad day, and I know she did not do as well as she could have on that rest. Could she re-take it?
- I’m glad your daughter wants to do well in this class, but I can’t let her take the test again. This test will give us the same result each time she takes it, unless she’s learned something new. So her score probably wouldn’t change if she took it again. If it did, it would show me that she studied, which is good, but that wouldn’t be fair to the other students.
